Lighthouse Keeper's Cottages, Dennis Ness, North Ronaldsay

The lighthouse keeper's cottages, situated on the Dennis Ness on North Ronaldsay Island, were designed by Alan Stevenson in 1852. The complex comprises an 8-stage, circular-plan lighthouse tower and a single-storey, 8-bay rectangular keepers' accommodation block, positioned to the west of the tower. To the east of the lighthouse stands a semicircular foghorn building.

The lighthouse tower is constructed of brick, with thick, alternating horizontal stripes of painted brick and droved, polished, and painted ashlar and concrete dressings. Channelled ashlar detailing is present at the eighth stage. It features a base course and a band course between the seventh and eighth stages, with a thick band course below cast-iron railings around the lantern balcony, supported by pointed machicolations. The tower's windows have long and short margins. The keepers’ accommodation block is harled with painted ashlar dressings and features a base and blocking course. A large, rectangular garden is located to the rear (west) of the keepers’ block.

The main entrance to the lighthouse is on the west side, featuring a massive, projecting, tapered door surround with a string course beneath a cavetto cornice and a shallow pediment. The door itself is a deep-set, two-leaf, timber panelled design. Windows are positioned at each stage above the entrance, with a pointed-arched window at the eighth stage. The cylindrical lantern above is fitted with triangular-pane glass, surmounted by a hemispherical dome.

Inside the lighthouse, a spiral stone staircase with a timber handrail leads to a timber and iron stair with a brass handrail that ascends to the lamp-room. The original winding and lamp-revolving gear remains at the centre of the lamp-room, along with ventilators fitted with decorative brass covers depicting heads of wind gods. A decorative lattice walkway surrounds the lantern, and triangular pane apexes are adorned with lion masks. The ceiling is a riveted dome with a central ventilator. A stout, horizontally boarded door with brass furniture provides access to the external balcony.

The principal (east) elevation of the keepers' accommodation block is symmetrical, with bays grouped 2-1-2-1-2. Windows are featured in the central bays, while a deep-set, two-leaf boarded door with a small-pane fanlight is located in the bays to the left and right, flanking the central entrance. Windows are also present in the penultimate and outer bays to the left and right. The building has 12-pane timber sash and case windows. A platform roof and tall, tapered ashlar stacks, grouped two-by-two with a string course below a cavetto cornice, are prominent features, along with tall cans and cast-iron rainwater goods. The interior of the keepers’ houses was unexamined in 1998.

A random rubble boundary wall with a rubble cope encloses the rectangular garden to the west of the accommodation block. The semicircular foghorn building is a tapered block housing two foghorns, raised on steel gantries and built of harled concrete. Adjacent to it is a square-plan operations hut with a boarded door to the south.